Bomb squad technicians deploy a robotic device on wheels to blow up a backpack left on a sidewalk near St. Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma. The backpack was thrown from a truck near the Emergency Room entrance. (July 15, 2009)
TACOMA -
A bomb squad robot has blown up a backpack dropped out of a truck near the emergency room at St. Josephs Medical Center in Tacoma.
Police say around 6:45 Wednesday night, two men in a red truck were overheard speaking a foreign language and yelled something that alerted security before tossing the backpack out of the truck.
The south entrance of the hospital on South J St. in Tacoma was closed, and police treated the backpack as a "suspicious package" and cornered off the area before the bomb squad robot moved in.
Hospital officials say the bag was roughly 75 to 100 feet from the emergency room entrance, and was dropped on the sidewalk on the 19th street side of the building.
Meanwhile, the E.R. waiting room was cleared and people were moved away from any glass to deeper inside the building at the request of police.
J and I streets in front and back of the hospital were also closed by traffic by the Tacoma Police Department.
Police say they normally move potentially explosive packages out of well-populated areas to be destroyed. But since an x-ray machine was unable to determine the bag's contents, the decided to set off the explosion right where it was.
Investigators have determined the contents of the backpack were mostly clothing.
Police say around 6:45 Wednesday night, two men in a red truck were overheard speaking a foreign language and yelled something that alerted security before tossing the backpack out of the truck.
The south entrance of the hospital on South J St. in Tacoma was closed, and police treated the backpack as a "suspicious package" and cornered off the area before the bomb squad robot moved in.
Hospital officials say the bag was roughly 75 to 100 feet from the emergency room entrance, and was dropped on the sidewalk on the 19th street side of the building.
Meanwhile, the E.R. waiting room was cleared and people were moved away from any glass to deeper inside the building at the request of police.
J and I streets in front and back of the hospital were also closed by traffic by the Tacoma Police Department.
Police say they normally move potentially explosive packages out of well-populated areas to be destroyed. But since an x-ray machine was unable to determine the bag's contents, the decided to set off the explosion right where it was.
Investigators have determined the contents of the backpack were mostly clothing.
